|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
WILLIAM GREEN WELLS was born in Scott County, Virginia, in 1818, the son
of Revolutionary veteran Richard Wells and his wife Susannah Hutchison.
About 1830, he moved with his parents to Johnson County, Kentucky, and
settled on Greasy Creek. In 1839, he married to Mary Butcher, also a
native of Scott County, Virginia. A skillful trader, by 1860 he amassed
over 5,000 acres of property and was recognized as one of Johnson
County's
wealthiest farmers. Additionally, William E. Connelley in his History of
Kentucky described him as "a man of much professional ability as a
physician and surgeon...besides giving equally earnest service as a local
minister of the Methodist Church." He was also the founder of Wells
General Store which later became Big Sandy Hardware Co., Inc.
Connelley also noted that Wells was a "staunch Democrat (who) was in
sympathy with the cause of the Confederacy." Prior to the war, Wells
served as 1st Lieutenant of the 3rd Company, 1st Battalion, of Johnson's
County's Enrolled State Militia. But, on November 21, 1861, he resigned
his commission and traveled with a group of local secessionists to Cedar
Bluff, Virginia, where he enlisted in the Confederate Army for a 12
months
term as a private in Co. E of the 54th Virginia Infantry. Soon afterward,
the 54th moved into Kentucky and by January 1862 was camped in Johnson,
County. Because of friction in the regiment between Kentuckians and
Virginians, Wells deserted from the 54th on January 10, 1862, but joined
Company E of the 5th Kentucky Infantry, C.S.A. on the very same day.
Immediately, he was appointed his company's 5th Sergeant.
On January 10, 1862, Sergeant Wells took part in the Battle of Middle
Creek in Floyd County, KY, and was captured in action. No records of his
incarceration survives, but on September 12, 1862, he re-enlisted for a
three year term in a new company of the 5th Kentucky Infantry. Almost
immediately thereafter, this company was transferred to a new unit and
became Co. F of Ficklin's Battalion of Kentucky Infantry.
After taking part in the Perryville Campaign, Wells was captured in
action
in Morgan County on November 7, 1862. Initially, he was transported to
the
Union P.O.W. camp at Louisville where the records erroneously indicate
that he took the oath of allegiance. Actually, he was transferred to Camp
Chase, Ohio, on November 29, 1862, where he remained until transported to
Cairo, Illinois, for exchange on November 3, 1863. The 1863 Johnson
County
delinquent tax list records Wells as "in prison in Ohio - Rebble
[sic]."
After his exchange, William Green Wells returned to Johnson County where
he set about organizing his own Confederate cavalry company known as the
"Greasy Creek Guards." In the early summer of 1864, the new
company
attached to May's 10th Kentucky Cavalry and Wells was commissioned as a
Captain. Under the command of Gen. John Hunt Morgan, the company fought
in
Morgan's last Kentucky raid. After the disastrous
battles of Mt. Sterling
and Cynthiana, the remnants of Wells' company returned to eastern Johnson
County. In the early fall of 1864, the company affiliated with a new
command of "border men" headed by Colonel William S.
"Rebel Bill" Smith.
This cavalry battalion, composed of Kentucky and Virginia mountain men,
roamed the banks of the Big Sandy River creating havoc for area
Unionists.
Wells' company was identified in raids at Paintsville in November 1864.
In
December 1864, Smith's command was temporarily broken up and Wells and
the
rest of the company "consolidated" with Co. K of the newly
formed 13th GA
Cavalry on January 16, 1865. Wells company remained with the GA unit
until
it was disbanded on April 12, 1865, near Christiansburg, Virginia.
Soon after the surrender, Wells' company moved into Wayne County, West
Virginia, where local Union authorities reported the company made a raid
on local Unionists' farms. On May 11, 1865, Wells' company surrendered
for
a second time at Louisa, Kentucky. However, their service was not
finished. Harassed by occupying Union troops in Johnson County, the
Greasy
Creek Guards rejoined Smith's Cavalry Battalion in Logan County, West
Virginia, until the final surrender at Charleston, West Virginia, on June
12, 1865.
After the war, Captain Wells continued as a community leader, doctor, and
Methodist minister. He was active in the Eastern Kentucky Confederate
Veterans Society and was appointed by the Governor as a commissioner for
the founding of Martin County. Most of all, Captain Wells remained an
unreconstructed rebel. On March 19, 1866, a local Unionist complained to
authorities that Wells was "hurrahing for Jeff Davis, defying
everybody."
During the last years of his life, Captain William Green Wells lived
quietly at his home in Paintsville. In 1887, no doubt sensing the end, he
moved back to Greasy Creek where he died. The Wells Chapel Methodist
Church, built during the last year of his life on Greasy Creek, is named
in his honor. Captain William Green Wells is buried in the J. B. Wells
Cemetery on Depot Road in Paintsville beneath a beautiful Confederate
veteran's tombstone.
webmaster@civilwar.morganco.freeservers.com
Let Us Pray Our For Troops In Foreign Lands
The Civil War in Morgan County 2003
Free Southern Graphics at:
http://cybergifs.com/confederate/indexr1.html
Home